Escaped snakes ground Qantas plane

Qantas had to take a plane out of service when baby snakes went missing from a package being carried in the cargo hold earlier this week.

Twelve baby pythons were in the cargo of a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne on Tuesday, but on arrival only eight were left.

When staff realised the snakes had apparently escaped the aircraft was taken out of service and fumigated, causing delays for passengers.

Qantas corporate manager David Epstein says the snakes' escape was a mystery because the consignment had been properly packaged.

"Our people called in a reptile expert and there was a suggestion that some of the baby pythons had eaten the other pythons because apparently it is not uncommon for baby pythons to eat each other," he said.

Qantas staff then weighed the remaining baby pythons to determine if they were heavier, but they were not.

"The only conclusion we could draw was four of them had broken free of the packaging," Mr Epstein said.

He says the baby pythons are about the length of a pencil and slightly skinnier.

"We thought the best thing to do was to call in a wildlife expert, and determine if they're endangered or not.

"They're not endangered, so a decision was made to take the plane out of service and fumigate it, so if these snakes ever turn up on one of our aircraft, they will be very much dead snakes."